Facebook Pages: Apps Without Privacy Settings

While browsing through SocialAds yesterday I found a local firm that had made an ad buy to promote their Facebook page. I was actually interested in the company and decided to become a fan of their company’s page. In joining the page I began to think about the difference between becoming a fan of a brand page and installing an application. When you add an application there is an option that says “Publish stories in my News Feed and Mini-Feed.”

That option lets me protect others from viewing my activities. By becoming a fan of a company you are publically endorsing them. This is what makes Beacon so controversial as well as possibly illegal.Â Isn’t it possible to be a fan of something without everyone knowing about it?Â I think this may be the key downfall with Facebook.Â I don’t want my friends to know absolutely everything about me.Â

While I may be more public then the typical individual, there are still things that are better being left private and sometimes that includes my favorite brands.Â While MySpace isn’t growing, there are still 60 million people going to the site everyday.Â While some people keep one-hundred percent of their social networking activities on Facebook (myself included), others have chosen to live out another lifestyle via their MySpace profile.

Â It’s an interesting mix and I think Facebook’s desire to share absolutely everything with your friends may end up being its downfall.Â Do you want your friends to know absolutely everything about you?Â How much privacy do you think is necessary?Â Do you think Facebook pages should have an notification/newsfeed opt-out?

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